Between the Songs Podcast

Andrew Haines is a singer-songwriter and recording artist from Illinois who has recently released his first album Dig Awhile, which features a cover version of Rich Mullins's "Steal at Any Price," a song off Pictures in the Sky. Haines's album also features a duet with Mitch McVicker ("Stretch the Reaches") and instrumentation from Michael Aukofer, who performed in the "Kid Brothers" version of the Ragamuffin Band. Our interview touches on his time living in South Dakota, the influence Mullins has had on him, and how he approaches covering one of his songs. You can find out more about Andrew, how to stream or purchase his music, and where to see him perform at his website:  https://andrewhainesmusic.com/home

This episode features an extended interview with renowned musician and songwriter Phil Madeira. Phil comes on to talk about how his band Red Dirt Boys (backup band for Emmylou Harris) is doing a crowdfunding campaign for two new albums. But he also tells us about his storied career in the music business, how he found himself being the band leader for Rick Elias' tribute concert, and why he liked Rich Mullins but not his music. Please check out Phil's website for more of his story and where to purchase his music. This episode also features a longer version of Jimmy Abegg and Ben Pearson's reflections about Rick Elias which was in our previous episode.

April 2, 2021 is the two year anniversary of the death of Rick Elias. This episode is a tribute to his life and work and features a long list of people sharing their stories about all the beautiful, conflicted moments they got to share with him over the years, including: Jimmy Abegg, Aaron Smith, Mark Robertson, Phil Madeira, Ben Pearson, Phil Keaggy, Margaret Becker, Randy Stonehill, Bryan Duncan, Carolyn Arends, Mitch McVicker, Sammy Horner, Chris Hauser, and many others.

This episode features a conversation with Rick Lee James, a singer-songwriter and recording artist from Ohio. In 2019 he was given the opportunity to record the Rich Mullins song "Thunder," which was written in the early part of his career and was later re-written by Lowell Alexander and Phil Naish. James put the song on his latest album, which he named Thunder, a heartfelt collection of modern hymns and narrative songs. The interview goes into the meaning of the song, the recording process, when James first heard of Mullins, and the influence he has had on his life. You can discover more of James's music at this website: https://www.rickleejames.com/

This episode features two interviews with Mitch McVicker, one with him discussing the Kickstarter campaign for his new album A Shrugging of the Shoulders, and the other a kind of radio special that goes in-depth into his previous album The Acceptance of And. 

This episode features an interview with filmmaker Andrew Montonera about the new Rich Mullins documentary "The Work You Began: The Last Days of Rich Mullins." The film features new interviews with artists and friends, as well as the family he stayed with in the weeks before he died, and offers the story surrounding the last concert he gave, Mitch McVicker's first album, and how the songs of the Jesus Record came together. It can be viewed at the Ragamuffin Archive Youtube page.

Our next bonus episode features interviews with Andrew Osenga and Jeremy Casella, two artists greatly affected by Rich Mullins' work, and who are currently trying to fund their new albums on Kickstarter. Joe was able to talk with Osenga last fall in the lead up to the Window Rock Tribute Concert and Chris spoke to Casella a few weeks ago for PostConsumer Reports (the full interview with Casella is available there). Please check out their Kickstarter pages and consider supporting their work (links will be on the Between the Songs website).

To start the new year we have a very special bonus episode featuring a lost interview of Rich Mullins from 1992. A tape was recently discovered at KHAC radio that contains a lengthy interview Mullins did with Chuck Harper (of Western Indian Ministries and Christ For Native Youth) a few years before Mullins moved out to the Navajo nation to do ministry work. The episode also features an interview with filmmaker Larry Handley of Little Brown Dog Productions who filmed and edited the concert film of the 20th Anniversary Window Rock Tribute Concert.

Bassist, song-writer, and producer Mark Robertson was not only a member of Rich Mullins' Ragamuffin Band and the lead singer of This Train, but he also recorded He has just released an album with his new band Prayer Flags and so we decided to take the opportunity to talk about the new music, his long history in the music business, and his time with Mullins. Although today's bonus episode features some of his reflections on Mullins a majority of that section of our interview will air on future episode of Between the Songs.

This bonus episode features an interview with Matt Walden, the creator, maker, and perpetrator of St. Rich Beard Oil. Not only do we get into the beard oil origin story, but Matt also gives an extensive account of his weekend in Nashville where he attended the Andrew Peterson A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band tribute concert, as well as a party with a number of Mullins' old friends. Finally, the episode features the full version of Chris' St. Rich Beard Oil advertisement.

Episode 3, released on the 20th Anniversary of Rich Mullins' death, features a Q&A recorded live at the Window Rock Tribute Concert (September 16, 2017), and features David Mullins, Mitch McVicker, Beth Snell Lutz, Andrew Osenga, and Chuck Harper. Then, we were so moved by David Mullins' talk during the concert we decided to include it as well. With humor and some twists and turns David asked the simple question: "How do you live a life of impact?"

Our next bonus episode features an in depth interview with musician and pastor Eric Hauck that Joe did on KHAC radio. Eric toured with Mullins as part of the Ragamuffin Band and was also a member of the Kid Brothers of St. Frank. This episode also features an interview Joe did with Chris about the upcoming Window Rock Tribute Concert, where Joe and Chris go over the event and share ways that people can financially support the event.

Chris had the opportunity to attend UTR Media's 2017 Escape to the Lake music festival and retreat in Cedar Lake, Indiana. This bonus episode of Between the Songs features an exclusive interview with Andrew Greer, the author of the new book on Rich Mullins Winds of Heaven Stuff of Earth: Spiritual Conversation Inspired by the Life & Lyrics of Rich Mullins. Their talk goes in depth about how the book came together (which features numerous reflections from those who knew Mullins or were inspired by him) as well as about the Mullins tribute album Greer is going to start working on with UTR's Dave Trout, Andrew Osenga, Andrew Peterson, and Reed Arvin (yes, you read that last one correctly!). This bonus also features Chris' recap of Escape to the Lake, the wonderful Mullins tribute concert that took place there, and how he got to hang out with Jimmy Abegg, Ben Pearson, and The Mosleys.  You can pre-order the book (and receive some great extras) by visiting it's official website: https://www.windsofheavenstuffofearth.com/  

Episode 2 of Rich Mullins: Between the Songs (www.betweenthesongspodcast.com) features an in depth look at Rich Mullins' first independent album with his band and ministry Zion. Behold the Man was only ever released independently in 1981, but was kept alive through various bootleg tapes or vinyl copies if you could find them. Joe has put the album up on the Ragamuffin Archive though, so now we can all listen to it. The episode also features an extensive interview with Beth Snell Lutz, Mullins' bandmate and friend. She offers a rare peek into Mullins' early years in Cincinnati leading up to how he found his way into the recording industry in Nashville. Please check out our previous article so you can listen through the album and read through Beth's commentary on the songs. As always, the episode features Joe and Chris' commentary on the album as well as updates on the various Rich Mullins tributes going on this year. On top of everything else are excited to announce our first "sponsor" of the podcast, St. Rich Beard Oil, which you should most definitely check out here. And finally, Joe's 20th Anniversary Tribute Concert in Window Rock is really coming together, but the event needs patrons and sponsors. Please check out our page for how you can help fund this important event, which will feature David Mullins, Jimmy Abegg, Mitch McVicker, and Eric Hauck.

As a bonus episode to listeners, Andrew Montonera has been trying to get LeSEA broadcasting to release hours and hours of "lost" or unreleased footage of Rich Mullins. He even went so far as to create a petition to get the footage released. This footage can essentially be considered "lost" because it's been sitting on a shelf for 20 years, untouched and unreleased. A good deal of this footage appeared on the Here in America CD/DVD album. That release contained a Live at Studio B concert with Mullins and the Ragamuffins, as well as segments from a two seminar Mullins and Beaker gave. But Andrew knew most of the footage has never been seen by more than a handful of people and decided to pursue finding a way for it to get released. In a surprising blessing, the management at LeSEA decided to allow Andrew to come and view the footage for a day. In this bonus episode Andrew goes over what he saw at his time at LeSEA as well as his guesses as to how this footage might eventually be released.

Our inaugural episode features our introduction to the series: we go over the order of each episode and why Rich Mullins is still an important artist 20 years after his death. The centerpiece of the episode is an interview with the legendary Jimmy Abegg, a musician, artist, and member of Mullins' Ragamuffin Band. We wrap up by featuring a breakdown of some of the Mullins tribute projects and events going on in 2017.

This is episode is a short teaser of what you can expect on the Rich Mullins: Between the Song Podcast. Our first real episode will be coming soon...